Page 10 of Break the Barrier

“He did.” Lue pouts. “But I miss Uncle Mitch.”

“Me too, hon. But you know he’s out there living his life. Rodeo is where he wants to be.”

Luella frowns briefly before she hops up out of her chair. “I’m gonna go get ready.”

“All right.”

Every week, we met at Mom’s house for family dinner. Though these days, it was usually me, Lue, and my brother Stetson. My other two brothers, Jax and Mitch, were off living their lives elsewhere, both on the rodeo circuit, just like they always dreamed.

Mom raised all of us on her own, leaving my dad when he wouldn’t stop drinking and getting into too much trouble. But it was for the best. If we hadn’t had Mom’s full attention, I don’t know what kind of trouble we would have gotten into.

Lue runs into the house, hugging my mom tightly around the waist. “How can I help?” she asks, sneaking a carrot and popping it into her mouth. My daughter is mature for fourteen, almost fifteen, and sometimes I look at her and wonder how all this time has passed already.

I am not ready for her to start high school, to get a job, to drive, to start…dating.

I shake my head. No need to be worrying about that now.

“Why don’t you go find your uncle? He’s been hiding out in the garage all evening.”

Lue nods and bounds out of the house. I step in to take the bread knife out of the block and start slicing the loaf Mom has prepared.

I look at Mom and see her focused on her own task, her hairrecently permed and up in a half-up, half-down do that she’s always worn, her sweater old but comfortable.

“How are you doing, son?”

The calming effect my mom has on my nerves is kind of amazing sometimes. I don’t know what I would have done without her.

“I’m good.”

“Did you and the boys get those cattle moved like you wanted? That storm is gonna hit tomorrow, so they say.”

“Yeah, we were out there bright and early. CT doesn’t like to take chances on that.”

“That boy is gonna go far with that ranch, I can feel it for the both of them.”

I smile. “I’m glad for them. They deserve it.”

“They do,” she agrees, moving veggies to a bowl. Her voice lowers as she asks her next question. “And what happened with Thea?”

I bite my lip and finish slicing the last bit of bread. “It’s a complicated situation.”

In addition to being the best mom in the world, she is also one of my closest friends. Without the extra sarcastic commentary from my brothers, they might be decent to talk to. But when it’s real things that are bothering me, or things that I don’t understand when it comes to my daughter, it’s my mom that I turn to.

So, when Thea approached me a few months ago, I turned to my mom and asked her what to do.

She is also the only person who knew that my feelings are slightly more than just friendly.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she is. For now.” I had a meeting set up for us next week to work out the legal details.

“Okay, and does she need as much as she thought she did?” Mom was talking in code, which I was grateful for. The last thing I needed was Luella hearing something about me getting married and getting excited or mad.

I didn’t know how she would feel if I did something like that.

“I don’t think so. I think we have a plan.”

Mom’s hazel eyes pop up to mine, her brow raised. “Does this plan involve a ring?”